8 Searching Strategies and Tips
Theresa Buller
Before you start searching for information, take some time to think about the legal question you are trying to answer and where you may find legal material that will help you to answer your question.
There is a vast amount of primary and secondary material available in print and electronically. This material can be found in multiple databases, so it is important to consider where you might find this material in a time-efficient manner.
Before you begin searching, consider:
- What do you wish to find (legislation, cases, journal articles and/or commentary)?
- What material do you have access to through your university or workplace library?
- Are you looking for the law in New Zealand or in another jurisdiction?[1]
- What search terms will you need (keywords, phrases and synonyms) to find the legal material that will help you to answer your legal question?
Keywords and Phrases
As part of planning your search strategy, think of keywords and phrases to find relevant information. Remember, you are researching the legal issues, not the facts of the scenario, so select keywords and phrases that are relevant to the legal issues of the case. Brainstorm related words, subject terms, synonyms and phrases. The more care and thought you put into your search strategies, the more relevant your results will be.
Imagine you are searching for journal articles on the topic of refugees. A keyword search for refugee returns 919 hits. After expanding your search and using other possible keywords and phrases, a search for refugee OR “asylum seeker” OR “displaced persons” returns 956 hits.
Keywords and Synonyms
| Keyword | Synonym | Related Term |
|---|---|---|
| Refugee | Asylum seeker | Displaced person |
Boolean Operators
Boolean operators are connective words you place between your keywords to improve your search results.
Using Boolean Operators to Connect Keywords
| Boolean operator | Example | Results |
|---|---|---|
| AND | Maori AND land | Finds results with both words (note that it is best to search without macrons for words in te reo Māori) |
| OR | zealand OR aotearoa | Finds results with either word |
| NOT | remedy NOT damages | Finds results with the first word but without the second word |
Truncation and Wildcards
Truncation symbols are used to find alternative word endings. For instance:
Wildcard symbols are used to replace a single character within the word, for example, when the spellings vary by a single letter. For instance:
The truncation and wildcard symbols vary between databases. Use the help section in each database or the handy cheat sheet below to find the specific symbol.
Proximity Operators
Proximity operators enable you to define how closely your search terms will be found in relation to one another. For example s is for sentence, p is for paragraph, n is for the number of words adjacent to another keyword. Proximity searching is commonly used in legal research to improve the relevancy of results, as most legal databases perform searches across lengthy documents (such as entire journal articles or full-text judgments). For instance:
Phrase Searching
Searching for a phrase (putting quotation marks around the words) can dramatically focus your search results. Rather than finding results for ungrouped words, the database will return results for the words contained within the quote marks in the exact order they are written.
This example search in Google Scholar demonstrates the power of phrase searching:
maori land = 191,000 results
"maori land" = 10,200 results
Combining Operators
Sometimes you may need to use more than one operator in the same search. An example is if you wanted to find material on the Treaty of Waitangi and New Zealand’s Constitution. By adding more operators, the following search string will capture the most relevant records in one search:
("Treaty of Waitangi" OR "te Tiriti") AND (Zealand OR Aotearoa) AND Constitution
By using operators and brackets to nest and connect your keywords and synonyms, you can ensure that you receive the most relevant results.
Database-Specific Search Operators
Each database has its own way of combining terms and truncating words. Use the correct search connectors for each database, otherwise you will get unreliable results.
Below is a handy cheat sheet for the most-used legal databases:
| and | or | Truncation | Single letter replacement | Proximity | Phrase | |
| CCH iKnowConnect | AND | OR | * | ? | w/ | "phrase" |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HeinOnline | AND | OR | * | ? | w/ | "phrase" |
| Lexis Advance | and | or | ! or * | ? | w/ | "phrase" |
| Westlaw New Zealand | AND or & | OR or [space] | ! | * | /n or /s or /p | "phrase" |
- In this book we focus on skills to find New Zealand material. Many of the skills can also be used to find material from other jurisdictions, although other jurisdiction-specific databases may need to be used. ↵
